“You know I have to bring Robert in,” Remy said.

“No!” Robert nearly jumped out of his chair. “You can’t lock up a leopard. You know that. And Juste and Jean will find a way to kill me,” he added.

“You don’ get a pass on this one,” Remy said. “You joined a gang that beat up the elderly and robbed them. The DA will make a deal with you, but you have to face this. I’ll do my best to keep you out of jail, and if you do have to be there, you’ll be in your own cell.”

“You can’t let him take me in,” Robert appealed to Drake. “You know the Rousseau brothers will get to me if they know I turned them in.”

“You said they would get to you no matter what,” Drake reminded. “That they aren’t entirely human. You can’t have it both ways. Robert, you did this. You had options all along and you chose the easy way out. Get on your feet. We’re going to take care of this and do as much damage control as possible.”

“Gage,” Remy said. “Have some of your men keep an eye on Brent Underwood and Tom Berlander. Make certain they do it from a distance. We don’ want them tipped off, or worse, the Rousseau brothers to get suspicious.”

“No problem,” Gage agreed. “Consider it done.”

“We’ll stay away from the brothers for now,” Remy decided. “They probably are crowin’ about fooling me in interrogation. Once again, they figure they outsmarted the cops. I want them feelin’ all happy, warm and fuzzy. We don’ want them runnin’.”

“And if they head out to the swamp while you’re out there?” Gage asked.

“They’ll run into leopards and it won’t be pretty,” Remy said, his tone unforgiving.

Bijou dropped her arms to her sides and stepped away from him. He turned to face her. She looked stricken and maybe a little sick. “These men sound dangerous, Remy,” she whispered.

He reached for her hand and tugged her to him, sliding her under his shoulder and walking her out of the room—away from Robert and the stench of madness. She didn’t need to see the corrupt side of leopards, not when she was first learning about her heritage. Like anything, there was both good and bad.

He didn’t want to talk to her in front of Robert, or anyone else for that matter. She was intensely private and she wouldn’t want him comforting her in front of the others. He took her through to the kitchen and as soon as the door closed behind them, he swung her around and tipped her chin up so he could see her eyes.

“I’m sorry about all this.”

For a moment she was silent, pressing her lips together. Finally she nodded. “I never really thought about the kinds of things you have to see when you go to work. Or the kinds of people you have to associate with.”

He wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck, a little shocked that her distress was more for him than for herself. “I don’ think it’s much different from the people you had to associate with as a child, Bijou.”

“They were self-indulgent and permissive, but they didn’t think it was okay to hurt and rape women and no one murdered anyone,” she protested. “I might have been neglected and embarrassed by the behavior, but I never had to deal with the grisly, horrific things you see.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. He caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Blue, I know we have so much to talk about and I keep askin’ you to wait for me, but I need you to understand. I can’t have these men runnin’ loose. Even if they aren’t the ones who killed Pete Morgan and Ryan Cooper, they’re dangerous and I need to get them off the street.”

“Of course. There’s no question of that,” Bijou said, frowning at him.

“The point is, I’ll be workin’ all night and maybe most of tomorrow.”

“I figured that out for myself. Remy, I’m not a baby, and I certainly am not someone who has to be with a man every moment. I know what you do. I didn’t have any idea how awful it was for you, but I got together with you knowing you’re a homicide detective. I’m not about to fall apart because you have to work.”

She was hesitant about it, but she cupped the side of his face with her palm. “I can be afraid for you. That’s somethin’ outside my control, but I’m beginning to realize you’re a dangerous man and maybe you can take care of yourself after all.” She sent him a faint smile.

He bent his head and kissed her, needing the taste of her. Needing to know she wouldn’t pull away. He had never thought he would come to need a woman the way he did Bijou. He often reminded himself she hadn’t been back that long, that he barely knew her, but somehow she found her way inside and was stamped onto his bones. He had wanted to tell himself it was his leopard, but he feared his leopard had little to do with it now.

She leaned into him, her mouth moving under his, her slender arms sliding up to circle his neck. His kiss started out gentle but once her lips moved against his and her mouth opened to him, it was as if molten fire poured from him to her. There was no stopping, no thinking, only his woman’s body moving against his, her warmth seeping into his pores and the taste of her sinking into his bones.

“Are you goin’ to wait for me?” he asked.

“I said I would,” she murmured against his lips.

He kissed her again, that whisper of a caress too much to resist. His tongue tangled and danced with hers. “I don’ want you gettin’ any ideas about that Frenchman,” he added. He kissed her over and over.